Soviet satellite to fall into Indian Ocean South of Sri Lanka

The Soviet Union's first operational weather satellite was expected to begin falling into the sea south of Sri Lanka at 4.43 AM Sri Lanka time today.

However, no updates were available at the time of writing.

Read IBN Live Report

Read Satnews.com Report

Here's a prediction chart showing possible location of re-entry for Meteor-1 but there is still no confirmation available of whether and where it splashed down.

Kanimozhi and Indian Parliamentarians praised Government during visit to Vavuniya in 2009 – GA Vavuniya

Kanimozhi and other Indian parliamentarians who visited Vavuniya and the Menik Farm IDP Shelter in October 2009 were aggressive and not willing to even talk to the government officials when they arrived, according to Vavuniya Government Agent Mrs. P.S.M. Charles.

However, the team was full of praise at the end of the two-hour visit. According to Charles Kanimozhi said, “You are doing a wonderful job. We had a very wrong picture, sorry for that. We will tell our Chief Minister (M. Karunanidhi) as well as the Indian Prime Minister.”

The comments were made during an interview with this writer in April 2011.

The sentiments and change of heart of the Indian Parliamentary Delegation as described by the Vavuniya GA assume greater significance in the light of the pressure applied by the DMK – a constituent of India’s Congress led government – which prompted Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to tell the Indian Parliament Tuesday, that India was inclined to vote in favour of the proposed US-led resolution on Sri Lanka despite not knowing the final text.

“While they were landing they were very angry. When they were departing they were very happy, very polite, and they appreciated,” Mrs. Charles added.

GA Vavuniya, Mrs. P.M. Charles in the company of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during the latter's visit to the Menik Farm IDP Camp in Vavuniya. (Photo: www.asiantribune.com)

The US sponsored resolution is due to be tabled on or before Friday at the Nineteenth Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Listen to an extract of the interview held at the Vavuniya GA’s Office on April 25th 2011.

(The interview was conducted as part of a documentation process and has not been published before. The decision to publish extracts was made in fairness to the large number of people who value the new found freedom in Sri Lanka and yet are helpless in the face of the heavy international media barrage.)

UN Refused to Cooperate in Preparing Facilities to Receive 250,000 IDPs in 2009

A Sri Lanka Government official charged that UN agencies, INGOs and NGOs had refused to cooperate in preparing facilities to receive 250,000 IDPs in Vavuniya at the end of the conflict.

A batch of LTTE cadres rehabilitated by the Sri Lanka Government await their reintegration to society at the Vavuniya Town Hall, April 2011. (Photo: Ranjit J. Perera)

Vavuniya Government Agent, Mrs. P.S.M. Charles told this writer in an exclusive interview last year, that the government decided to proceed to prepare the infrastructure to receive at least 250,000 people (at the Menik Farm) after the UN agencies, INGOs and NGOs had a heated argument with the GA and refused to cooperate. She also said that the government around the same time sent food and essential items for 400,000 people knowing very well that it was an over-estimation, on the basis that even the LTTE cadres were citizens of Sri Lanka.

She also spoke of how the government on its own organised a food convoy to LTTE held areas following a delay in the WFP getting security clearance from its own security advisors. 

Listen to extracts of the interview held at the Vavuniya GA’s Office on April 25th 2011.

(The interview was conducted as part of a documentation process and has not been published before. The decision to publish extracts was made in fairness to the large number of people who value the new found freedom in Sri Lanka and yet are helpless in the face of the heavy international media barrage in view of the US sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka due to be tabled at the 19th Session of the UNHRC.)

Does the US Value Human Rights?

‘Stalking from home to home, a United States Army sergeant methodically killed at least 16 civilians, 9 of them children, in a rural stretch of southern Afghanistan early on Sunday, igniting fears of a new wave of anti-American hostility, Afghan and American officials said,‘ the New York Times reported Sunday.

In one of the most gruesome human rights abuses in recent times, a US soldier is reported to have walked over a mile (1.6 km) from his base in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province trying door after door before breaking into three houses and killing16 sleeping civilians, nine of whom were children. Reports quote villagers as saying that he had collected 11 of the bodies and set fire to them.

Sadly, this is only the latest in a string of violations of international humanitarian law by US forces stretching back several years.

Earlier this month, five American servicemen and an Afghan translator were reported to have burned copies of the Quran which were among religious materials seized from a detainee facility at Bagram Airfield, prompting a wave of outrage.

Abu Ghraib prison from where many abuses were reported was one of the greatest embarrassments for the US government. Among the allegations of abuses was the sexual harassment of prisoners and the frightening of prisoners with dogs and even having them bite some prisoners. Many other instances of appalling abuses are believed to have been suppressed and kept secret even from the Congress.

However, the most infamous and controversial is perhaps the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. A senior US government official who investigated practices at the camp admitted that a detainee had been tortured. In July 2010 the Washington Times reported that, ‘Like its 2004 Hamdi v. Rumsfeld decision, the Supreme Court’s Hamdan ruling affirms that the United States is engaged in a legally cognizable armed conflict to which the laws of war apply. It may hold captured al Qaeda and Taliban operatives throughout that conflict, without granting them a criminal trial, and is also entitled to try them in the military justice system — including by military commission.’

The ruling did not deter US forces from killing an unarmed Osama Bin Laden following an unauthorised foray into Abbottabad in Pakistan earning the outrage of the Pakistani government and others who value international humanitarian law. Internationallaw expert Kai Ambos writing in Der Spiegel says, “A targeted killing of a terrorist does not, contrary to what US President Barack Obama has suggested, do a service to justice; rather, it runs contrary to it. A state governed by the rule of law, treats even its enemies humanely.”

The operation which also killed bin Laden’s son also injured or killed his youngest wife who was trying to shield him from the US attack force. The entire operationviolating international humanitarian law was watched by President Obama and hissenior advisers ‘in real time’.

The US however, maintains high moral ground at all times. The US State Department on its website states: Promoting freedom and democracy and protecting human rights around the world are central to U.S. foreign policy. The values captured in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in other global and regional commitments are consistent with the values upon which the United States was founded centuries ago. On the same page, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is quoted saying, “In democracies, respecting rights isn’t a choice leaders make day-by-day, it is the reason they govern."

The US has increasingly come in for severe criticism for violating its international obligations and continued human rights abuses. Last year, China said, “The United States is beset by violence, racism and torture and has no authority to condemn other governments' human rights problems.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry statement followed US criticism of China’s human rights record. A Reuters report quoted a report published by China’s official news agency Xinhua saying, "Stop the domineering behaviour of exploiting human rights to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries."

The long drawn out row between China and the United States on each other’s’ human rights record intensified in 1998 when China first published what has since become an annual publication titled, Human Rights Record of the United States.

The UN Human Rights Council’s 19^th Session in Geneva heard pious pronouncements from H.E. Ms. Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights of the United States of America. “When the United States joined the UN Human Rights Council two years ago, we set forth four values that would guide our work in this body: universality, dialogue, principle, and truth.  We knew then, as we know now, that the honest dialogue and dedicated effort of this Council will help all of our nations on the path to international peace and security.”

Making a plea for a second term on the Council she said, “In the two years since, we have stayed true to those values.  But our global challenges remain—among them, threats to freedoms of assembly, association, expression and religion and to vulnerable populations.  As we seek a second term on the Council, the United States stands ready to build on the Council’s successes to pursue solutions to these pressing challenges.”

How true has the US been to those values? Not very I’m afraid.

Human rights abuses by the US have been consistent with the regular use of force against various countries.

The arming of rebels and the aggression committed by NATO forces covered by a see-thru UN resolution in Libya ensured the unseating of the oil-rich country’s long-time ruler Muammar Gadhafi. Videos showing him captured alive and dead thereafter with wounds on his body were compounded by the sadistic display of the body in a vegetable display refrigerator without giving a speedy burial according to Islamic custom.

The US is in the forefront of criticism of the Assad regime in Syria. The lack of any criticism of the rebel forces shows up US foreign policy in Syria for what it really is.

The bottom line is that rebels sponsored by various governments in the name of democracy remain free to violate human rights with impunity.

Earlier this year, IHR Law reported how family members of Iraqi civilians killed by Blackwater had agreed to a settlement. Seventeen Iraqis died in the incident when Blackwater security guards escorting an American envoy in Baghdad fired on civilians on a busy street. Iraqi victims later spoke about the horrors of that day.

The U.S. killed American citizen Anwar Awlaki last year and followed up by killing his son too. Americans have been angered by the lack of due process and the killing of a child but mostly by Attorney General Holder’s defence of the actions.

The United States also has been using its seat in the UNHRC to pressure smaller countries like Sri Lanka to achieve their agenda. The current pressure on this small Indian Ocean Island to implement an internal government report is such an instance. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is an indigenous mechanism initiated by the government of Sri Lanka as part of its overall reconciliation and normalisation effort following the end of the conflict in 2009. It was not initiated following international pressure. To call upon the Sri Lankan government to implement same is much like asking the USA to investigate and prosecute the soldier who killed 16 civilians in Afghanistan.

The United States would need moral authority to police the world. They would need also to ensure that justice is not only done but must also seem to be done. It is a pity that the United States uses double standards with regard to human rights. The world needs to know whether the US remains true to its commitments to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or whether the soldiers who urinated on dead bodies were reflecting US policy on human rights. END.
(Follow the writer on Twitter: @Panhinda)

Will the International Community give-in to the LTTE Lobby and Thwart Reconciliation in Sri Lanka?

A newborn babe about to leave the Kilinochchi hospital is being greeted by a sibling June 2011. 

Reconciliation in Sri Lanka appears threatened by various manoeuvres aimed at crucifying the country on unsubstantiated allegations of human rights abuses during the latter stages of the country’s long drawn-out conflict which ended with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who were fighting for a separate state for ethnic Tamils in the north and the east of the country.

Few if any would deny the dividends of peace in Sri Lanka. A massive development effort, particularly in the war-ravaged north and east of the country has been coupled with a wide ranging reconciliation effort that is already reaping benefits. These though are only obstacles to those with an agenda of destabilizing the country under the guise of protecting human rights. Those who profited by war could hardly be expected to want peace.

Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Tamara Kunanayakam today described as an “an unethical distortion of the true position,” the contents of an email purported to have been sent by the US Mission to the United Nations which “creates the impression that diplomatic officials of the U.S. have been in close contact with the Government of Sri Lanka, as well as this Mission, to work, collaboratively on issues of accountability (in Sri Lanka) and the implementation of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’s Report”. It goes on to express the hope that ‘the Sri Lankan Government will work with us on this Resolution’. It obliquely canvasses the position of a co-sponsorship of a Resolution and conveys a false impression that Sri Lanka is working with the United States on this Resolution, the statement added.

Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Ministry which carried the Ambasasador’s statement on its website said that it “exposes manoeuvres to deceive the Human Rights Council.“

The email is reported to have been signed by Miriam Shahrzard Schive. According to the Princeton University’s website, Miriam Shahrzard Schive is attached to the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University and  is a former special assistant at LISD and former Resident Director of the new Liechtenstein Institute in Vienna (LIVA), a sister research institute to the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University. Fluent in German, French, and Farsi, she is currently reported to be pursuing a Masters of International Affairs Degree at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Smiling patients who benefited from a public-private initiative where some of the best eye surgeons in the country performed cataract operations for patients from the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts at the Kilinochchi Hospital, June 2011.

It remains to be seen whether this is another attempt to revive the call of the former terror group for a separate state in Sri Lanka.

Ambassador Kunanayakam also said, “It is unfortunate that such an unethical distortion of the true position has been resorted to by interested parties who can only be pursuing some parallel agenda, seeking to achieve some collateral gain, given Sri Lanka’s commitment to engage constructively with its partners, its forthrightness in discussing issues pertaining to post conflict recovery and the realization of positive developments within its territory relating to reconciliation and development.”

A key prize sought by the rebels during Sri Lanka’s conflict was the eastern port of Trincomalee which is believed to be the largest natural port in the world. This port and the sea area around Sri Lanka is of great interest to various global powers seeking to dominate the Indian Ocean. International sea-routes between the east and the west ply through Sri Lanka’s territorial waters just a few kilometers south of Sri Lanka’s southern port of Hambantota.

At a time when western economies are struggling having failed to recover from the 2008 economic crisis, the sea-routes across the Indian Ocean have assumed greater significance in maintaining access to the emerging markets of Asia.

Beneficiaries of the government's rehabilitation programme for former LTTE cadres await their reintegration at a ceremony at the Town Hall in Vavuniya April 2011.

Handicrafts turned out by the beneficiaries of the government's rehabilitation programme at an exhibition at the Art Gallery in Colombo.

The decisive victory in May 2009 by the Sri Lanka Government over the banned LTTE and the annihilation of its leadership has given rise to accusations that LTTE leaders surrendering with white flags were killed by government troops. The government and the Army have however, vehemently rejected the accusations.

A rehabilitated LTTE cadre's water colour rendition of Mother Theresa.

Sri Lanka being pushed away from the fire of the dragon by the three main ethnic communities as depicted by a former LTTE cadre.

While many in the west celebrated the dramatic raid into Pakistan and the killing of the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the brutal killing after capture, of the former leader of Libya, Muammar Ghadaffi, Sri Lanka is being singled out for its firm eradication of terrorism.

Reports appeared recently of Major General Shavendra Silva, Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations and a recent nominee of the Asia-Pacific countries to the UN’s Peacekeeping Committee being barred from participating in its work, according to a statement attributed to its Chairman, Louise Frechette. However, there was no word at the time of writing of the UN’s official position regarding Silva’s position which followed a nomination made by member countries from the Asia-Pacific region. Sri Lanka has expressed its outrage at the action of the committee’s chairman.

After a couple of years in rehabilitation there is much to discuss. Rehabilitees, familes and well-wishers at the Vavuniya Town Hall prior to reintegration into civilian society.

Fourteen NGOs including Amnesty International USA and Human Rights Watch welcomed news of the US moves on Sri Lanka in Geneva and referred to the UN Panel of Experts Report on Sri Lanka which was forwarded by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to the UN Human Rights Council. The move was made despite widespread condemnation of the report which seeks to vilify Sri Lanka for unsubstantiated civilian deaths during the final stages of the conflict. Sri Lankans were denied the opportunity to be heard by the three-member committee.

More pressure could be expected in the days to come as a discernible pattern has emerged of how on previous occasions a media barrage has been unleashed in concert by the LTTE lobby overseas, some NGOs that claim to fight for human rights and certain western countries whenever Sri Lanka has appeared at a high-profile international forum.

Despite the theatrics on the international stage, Sri Lanka continues to march forward towards reconciliation. Various initiatives launched by both the government and civil society to restore normalcy have already begun to bear fruit.

Art and handicrafts of rehabilitated LTTE cadres on display at Colombo's Art Gallery.

The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies is spearheading a series of events in reconciliation. Named after Sri Lanka’s illustrious former foreign minister assassinated by the LTTE, the institute is engaging diverse sectors - education, media, religion, youth, NGOs, sports, arts, culture and the diaspora to sustain the natural reconciliation so evident in the country after the end of terrorism.

Students following a five-day leadership training programme conducted by the Nena Guna Weduma: Sisu Diriya Programme of the President's Office in Kilinochchi January 2012 begin the day with physical training under a skilled instructor.

Former LTTE cadre turned singer and film star, Gokulan sings for the leadership trainees in Kilinochchi January 2012.

Trainer Saabir M. Hashim tells the students in Kilinochchi how to change their lives with a positive outlook on life.

Gokulan leads the students in a dance routine at Kilinochchi January 2012.

Students enjoying Gokulan's performance on stage in Kilinochchi January 2012.

Muslim girls take the stage at the Deyata Kirula Exhibition in Anuradhapura February 2012 with an eye-catching dance.

Several hundred Tamil students from the northern province performed a variety of dances at the Deyata Kirula Exhibition.

Five hundred students in Kilinochchi were given a five-day leadership training programme by the Nena Guna Weduma: Sisu Diriya Programme of the President’s Office in January. The programme which aims to build future leaders by enhancing their knowledge and ethics has received wide acceptance among both students and teachers in the conflict-affected and adjacent areas. More than 2,000 students including hundreds from the northern districts of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mannar and others from the Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa districts performed traditional dances at the government’s development exhibition, Deyata Kirula 2012 in Anuradhapura this month, marking a first for them on the big stage.

Sixty-three year old Mrs. Thamayanthy who was a beneficiary of the government's rehabilitation programme spoke to this writer about her role as LTTE propagandist Thamizkavi.

A poster depicts a photograph showing religious leaders participating in the rehabilitation programme.

A photograph captured from a poster depicting former female LTTE cadres being given a training in beauty culture during the rehabilitation programme.

Sinhala Soldier Sandaruwan of the Gajaba Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army married hiw sweetheart ethnic Tamil Shermila Chandrasekeran at a simple ceremony blessed by both families at their residence in Kilinochchi. Shermila's father, a former LTTE cadre and beneficiary of the government's rehabilitation programme looks on.

One of the most impressive exercises in reconciliation has been the rehabilitation and release of former LTTE cadres. Over ten thousand of them have been put through an intensive rehabilitation programme which included spiritual training, continuation of disrupted education, vocational skills, sports and interaction with youth of other communities and released back to their families. One of them interviewed in April 2011 in Vavuniya told this writer of how the married inmates were allowed to have their spouses live with them in the camps. His nine-month old son at the time of release was living proof. Another enquired whether my recorder was switched off and when told it was, said that except for the first three days (following their dramatic escape from the clutches of the LTTE to the government controlled areas) they had been treated in an excellent manner by the Sri Lanka Army.

International and local NGOs, CBOs, and the private sector have programmes at various levels to foster reconciliation. For them and for the likes of former award-winning actress Anoja Weerasinghe and former LTTE cadre turned film star Gokulan who are conducting programmes for the youth in the north, reconciliation is not an abstract subject at an international forum. It is something they see in the radiating happiness of the people; one that gives hope for a truly united Sri Lanka. END.

NOTE: Article and all photographs copyright Ranjit J Perera. Story and photographs may be republished unedited and with due attribution.

CHOGM should not become 'The Comonwelth Heds of Guvunmunt Mii Ting'

As Queen Elizabeth II opened the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth, Australia amid a heavy security clampdown Friday, Her Majesty would no doubt have been happy that the multilateral organisation is still an extension of ‘Old Blighty’ and not yet a part of the New World.

Immigrants who ventured across the Atlantic in search of green pastures are today increasingly disillusioned by the culture of greed and promiscuity that has entrapped them in a cycle of poverty.

Many have lost their homes, their savings and the health benefits that would have given them the basis to build new lives.

Many of the captains of capitalism have lost out or are behind bars for their sins. Fears of a fresh wave of economic woes haunt the world.

They have waged wars against religions and killed simply because they had the weapons and the means to do so.

They have found imaginary weapons of mass destruction and plundered the resources of the poor including the best oil fields in the world.

All this has been done in the name of democracy under the guise of giving ordinary citizens the world over, their sovereignty. The people have been encouraged to turn against their cultures, their own people and their governments and to seek wealth and power instead.

Leaders of countries have been sprung from power using assisted people’s power on the basis of responsibility to protect. However, similar people’s power in the New World is being brutally suppressed as the people seek to occupy the world and re-establish norms in governance and civil life.

They are waging a war to conquer the world and ensure that the diverse cultures and peoples that nourished the world over millennia are erased and replaced with one that is decided by them for their primary benefit.

It is true that the New World was discovered by enterprising sea-farers of old. It is also true that they killed the brown-skinned natives who could not match the muskets and cannons with their bows and arrows. And farmed cattle and a six-gun culture of might is right.

It is also true that the forefathers of the New World put an end to the slavery that oppressed and robbed human beings of their dignity and designed a form of government that sought to enshrine the value of human life.

However, today they seek to propagate a multitude of new religions that have no direct relationship to any of the established religions of the world. Many of them seek to denigrate the long established faiths of the people of the world and amass wealth from the gullibility of the poor.

In a world that lacks ethical and moral leadership based on established religious principles, multilateral institutions such as the Commonwealth could help re-focus on principled norms that would guide the affairs of nations where people could live with respect and dignity, pursuing their chosen vocations and enriching the world once again with their cultures.

The soft-spoken British Monarch who despite being on the throne for over half a century continues to be a model for the world in charm and grace, can heel her own government and discipline their allies and give leadership to the Commonwealth as an organisation that truly reflects the needs and aspirations of its member countries. Thus, a day may yet dawn, when the Commonwealth stands on its own despite the dictates of powerful entities, and little boys need no longer cry aloud about the nudity of the world’s emperors.

Her Majesty would no doubt be happy to ensure that the Queen’s English will thus not be distorted to the point where in system-wide consistency it reads, “The Comonwelth Heds of Guvunmunt Mii Ting.”

Ban Ki-moon Should Reject the Report of the Panel on Sri Lanka and Restore Confidence in the UN

An analysis of notices published by the UN Panel of Experts (POE) calling for submissions and email correspondence this writer has had with the Panel show that the Panel has effectively denied the citizens of Sri Lanka an opportunity to be heard by the Panel.

The POE has surreptitiously given more time for detractors of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) by publishing on scribd.com a notice calling for submissions which few were aware of.  Even an emailed reply to those who enquired less than two weeks before the end December 2010 deadline, did not mention the impending deadline although it had been extended for reasons best known to the POE.

They have in this manner systematically favoured the receipt of submissions against the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL).

Compelling evidence demands that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon should officially reject the Report of the Panel of Experts (POE) on Sri Lanka for not adhering to accepted norms of objectivity, transparency and accountability.

Sri Lankans Denied Opportunity to Make Submissions

It was in 1952 that the UN began its work in Sri Lanka, three years before the country was formally admitted as a member state of the world body. Despite having been in the country for sixty years, the UN did not see it fit to publish in the local media, its call for submissions. An enquiry directed to the UN offices in Sri Lanka by this writer via their website asking whether the UN in Sri Lanka was involved in publishing any notices in the local media on behalf of the POE calling for submissions from Sri Lankans, remains unanswered.

According to a recent report by Nielsen Sri Lanka, internet users in Sri Lanka represent only 14 percent of the population. Despite huge advances in recent years, the use of traditional media is a must for effective mass communications in Sri Lanka.

The UN has thus effectively denied the citizens of Sri Lanka the opportunity to be heard before the Panel. Yet, the recommendations have been recycled by interested parties clothing the so-called “credible allegations” in a veneer of respectability, to the point of becoming indictments against the GOSL. These allegations are made without a shred of evidence and no recourse to the legal system of Sri Lanka.

Panel Report Fails on Accountability

The UN Panel of Experts (POE) Report on Sri Lanka should have been a clear-cut document that embodied facts with substantiating evidence based on international norms and best practices and some clear recommendations based on its terms of reference, for the UN Secretary General to act upon. Instead, it has stirred controversy and been widely condemned in Sri Lanka, by the very people whom it was intended to benefit.

That this report could have far reaching implications for Sri Lanka need hardly be said. The wider implication however, is that it could prove a precedent for all member countries of the United Nations.

That precisely is the reason that the UN Panel of Experts Report on Sri Lanka should be subject to exacting standards of accountability; and it is there that it fails.

The Panel has failed to adopt a methodology by which they could arrive at impartial conclusions and has created a serious doubt as to whether it was pursuing an agenda designed to indict Sri Lanka for ‘war crimes’.

Flaws show up in Email Response

It was on October 18, 2010 that the POE invited submissions with a deadline of December 15, 2010. However, this notice was not published on the UN website. Having found the notice posted on Scribd.com via a search on the internet, this writer sent an email on October 21, 2010 seeking further information. Since no reply was received, a reminder was sent to the POE on November 21, 2010.

On December 18, 2010 the following reply was received:

Dear Sir, Madam,

Thank you for writing to the Secretary-General's Panel of Experts. The Panel appreciates the time you have taken to your share your contribution with it.

The Panel is unable to reply to each individual given the volume of messages received.

The responses to a number of frequently asked questions are thus set out below.

Q.: Can I write in Sinhala or Tamil?

A.: Yes, though English, being the Panel's working language, is preferred. 

Q.: Is my submission confidential?

A.: Yes, your submission will be treated as confidential. Neither your name nor identifying particulars will be specified in the Panel's report.

Q.: When will the Panel make its report?

A.: The Panel anticipates submitting its report in January 2011.

Q.: Will the Panel's report be made public?

A.: The report is to the United Nations Secretary-General. He will decide whether to make the report public.

Q.: Can I speak to the Panel in person?

A.: The Panel has a limited time for its work and has therefore chosen to request contributions in the written form detailed in the notice.

Q.: Can I make multiple submissions?

A.: You are requested to raise all issues you wish to raise within the one, single submission. 

Q:  Can I send my submission in hard copy to a physical address?

A.: Yes. You may send materials to the following address within the timeframe set out in the notice:

  

  Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka

  UN Secretariat (Library Building, L-0330 L)

  New York, NY 10017

  United States of America 

Q:  Can I submit non-written materials, such as photographs and film clips?

A.:  Yes. Please enclose such materials as attachments to your email or mail them to the above address.

Thank you again for taking this opportunity to be in contact with the Panel.

Yours sincerely,

Secretariat of the Panel of Experts

Reluctance to Mention Deadline

Significantly, the POE did not mention the new deadline in the reply. The change of deadline was reflected in an amended notice published on scribd.com which was sourced through an internet search. It is this amended notice that has since been posted on the UN website where the filename identifies it as revision 1. (Note the revised filename.)

A December 20, 2010 Inner City Press report stated:

In the run up to the initial December 15 deadline, Inner City Press asked Haq and his office about bounced e-mails and Federal Express overnight packages of evidence which the Panel refused or could not receive. Haq said that he thought an extension would be announced -- but then did not announce one.

On December 20, having received more complaints about packages refused by the Panel, Inner City Press again asked Haq about the projected extension. Staring down at note, Haq said it is extended to the end of the year. (Emphasis mine.)

Lack of Transparency

An obvious lack of transparency on the part of the UN can be observed. That this writer received a reply in December just two weeks prior to the deadline which was not mentioned in the mail, and nearly two months after the initial enquiry, suggests deliberate action on the part of the UN POE. The contents of the report suggest that the Panel was selective in its collection of submissions and wished to deny submissions from affected persons in Sri Lanka.

For a clearer understanding of the methodology employed by the Panel, the UNSG should identify the dates on which the various announcements were officially made on the UN website and the dates on which the various submissions were made to the Panel. It should be quite revealing.

The results of a flawed methodology should not be used to tarnish the reputation or cause harm to Sri Lanka as a member state of the United Nations.

Analyses of the POE Report by an Eminent Sri Lankan

Godfrey Gunatilleke, Chairman Emeritus and Senior Advisor of the Marga Institute (a leading development studies think-tank in Sri Lanka) has aptly deconstructed the UN POE Report and its criticisms into three key areas that warrant analysis.

Firstly, although the Panelists must have impeccable credentials, Gunatilleke has shown how they do not qualify. As he points out, all three of them have either personally held or belonged to organisations which held, views critical of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) thus making them less likely to come to objective or impartial conclusions with regard to the GOSL. As Gunatlilleke outlines further:

“One set of responses to the report which seeks to reject it outright deals with issues concerning the appointment and status of the panel, the mandate given to the Panel and the way the Panel has interpreted it, the composition of the Panel and the capacity of the panel to arrive at fair and impartial conclusions particularly regarding the actions of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and the Government of Sri Lanka (G0SL).  Many of these criticisms question the bona fides of the initiative taken by the UNSG.

A second category of responses deal with more substantive issues relating to the central part of the report – the issues of accountability and the case made against the government in particular. These issues relate to the methodology the panel has adopted, its transparency, the sources it has been able to access, its account of the last stages of the war based on these sources, the framework of accountability it has adopted and the conclusions it reaches. 

A  third  category  focuses  on  the  parts  of  the  report  which  deal  directly  with  the  process  of domestic accountability and the Panel’s recommendation for improving that process.”

Panel Has Exceeded the Mandate

In para 51 of the Report the Panel states:

“While the Panel’s mandate precludes fact-finding or investigation, the Panel believed it essential to assess whether the allegations that are in the public domain are sufficiently credible to warrant further investigations. Determining the scope and nature of these allegations allows the Panel to properly frame the accountability issues, which arise from them. The Panel has determined an allegation to be credible if there is a reasonable basis to believe that the underlying act or event occurred. This standard used by the Panel  - that of a reasonable basis to believe that the underlying act or event occurred – gives rise to a responsibility under domestic and international law for the State or other actors to respond.” (Emphasis mine.)

The Panel has proceeded to do exactly what it was specifically excluded from doing; fact-finding or investigation. It has also proceeded to be the prosecutor, judge and the jury at the same time, while going way beyond its mandate by freely interpreting the legal responsibilities of a member country of the United Nations and towards it (interestingly) by unnamed actors.

Critical Assessment by Sri Lanka’s Business Community

The recently released Sri Lanka Private Sector Assessment of the Panel of Experts’ Advisory Report to the UN Secretary General has also criticized the manner in which the Panel has determined allegations to be ‘credible’.

“The  POE  claims  that  it  treated  an  allegation  as  credible  only  when  the information  was  “based  on  primary  sources  that  the  Panel  deemed  relevant  and trustworthy”.  Contrary to this claim, which suggests that the allegations  were  substantiated  by  victims  and  witnesses  present  on  the  ground,  the  POE seems to have relied exclusively on uncorroborated open sources for some of its findings.”

“While it is noted that at this juncture there is no expectation to have the exact identities of the  witnesses interviewed disclosed, necessity  for confidentiality  does  not  preclude  the  POE  from  identifying  the  categories  of the witnesses so interviewed, such as victims, members of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA),  Government  officials,  members  of  the  NGOs/INGOs, journalists  etc.” (Emphasis mine.)

Contradictory Positions on Confidentiality

In comments on the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) the Panel Report states at para 312:

The history of previous Commissions of Inquiry in Sri Lanka shows a pattern of non-disclosure of findings and recommendations undermining public confidence in the process, dramatically reducing the practical impact of the work undertaken and possibilities for follow-up and making it impossible to assess whether the work of that commission responded to its mandate. (Emphasis mine.)

Could this be a statement about Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission by an eminent Panel of the august body? One appointed by the Secretary General himself to advise him on accountability in Sri Lanka? Or, could it be that they were thinking of themselves and substituted the LLRC in a moment of amnesia? Yes, have they forgotten what they’ve written elsewhere in their report that their own records are subject to 20-years of secrecy?

As the Sri Lanka Private Sector Assessment notes:

“Further the POE has classified “nearly all of the Panel’s substantive records as strictly confidential.” Therefore, “nearly all” of the  material  purportedly supporting the POE’s conclusions will remain confidential at least for the next twenty  years.  While  the  necessity  for  such  extensive  confidentiality  for sources providing information to support a private advisory to the UNSG can be appreciated, since the advisory has been released into the public domain by the  UNSG, “natural  justice” necessitates  the sources  or at the very least the nature/character of those sources to be revealed to the public.” (Emphasis mine.)

UN Needs to Reestablish Public Confidence in its Ability to Carry Forward the Objectives Specified in the Charter

The UN is the only body of its kind and its General Assembly is the only forum where countries discuss, debate and seek consensus as a body, on matters that affect human beings in an increasingly globalized world. Any subversion of the powers of the General Assembly by individual countries – however powerful they may be – or by any of the myriad agencies of the UN would only create chaos.

Institutions which under the guise of championing human rights seek to advance vested interests and have observer status at the UN should be periodically reviewed to ensure that the UN is not made a vehicle for the interests of a powerful few.

The flawed manner in which the Panel has sought to discharge its mandate makes it imperative that the UN Secretary General should officially reject the Report of the Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka and withdraw same from the UN’s presence in the public domain so that Sri Lankans, as indeed the world population, can restore their confidence in the United Nations as presently constituted, as a body capable of upholding the Charter. END.